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Published By : Last Updated:November 28, 2023, 07:51 IST THE US, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA ALLEGED THAT NORTH KOREA VIOLATED SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTIONS BY LAUNCHING THE SATELLITE IN NOVEMBER.

North Korea’s ambassador made a rare appearance at the UN Security Council on Monday to defend his country’s launch of a spy satellite, as leader Kim Jong Un studied images including of the

White House and Pentagon. Western powers, Japan and South Korea have said North Korea violated Security Council resolutions by launching the satellite last week. RECOMMENDED STORIES The

totalitarian state has said that its new eye in the sky has already provided images of major US and South Korea military sites, as well as photos of the Italian capital Rome. On Monday it

took “in detail" images of the White House and the Pentagon in Washington, according to state-run KCNA news agency, which said Kim was reviewing the photos. He also counted some

aircraft carriers at a military base and a shipyard in the neighboring state of Virginia, the report said. At the Security Council, North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations, Kim Song,

complained that other countries faced no restrictions on satellites. “No other nation in the world is in the security environment as critical as the DPRK," said Kim, using the North’s

official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “One belligerent party, the United States, is threatening us with a nuclear weapon," he said. “It is a legitimate right for the

DPRK as another belligerent party to develop, test, manufacture and possess weapons systems equivalent to those that the United States possesses or is developing." He mocked US charges

that satellite technology also helped North Korea hone its missile capacity, questioning whether the United States put satellites into orbit “with a catapult." The US ambassador, Linda

Thomas-Greenfield, rejected North Korea’s assertion it was acting in self-defense and said that joint US-South Korean exercises were “routine" and “defensive in nature." “We

intentionally reduce risk and pursue transparency by announcing the exercises in advance including the dates and the activities, unlike the DPRK," she said, adding that the drills did

not violate Security Council resolutions. South Korea’s spy agency said that Russia, eager for assistance in Ukraine, helped North Korea on the satellite following a summit between Kim and

President Vladimir Putin. The United States said last month that North Korea has delivered more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions to Russia. Russia and China, North

Korea’s main ally, have put forward a resolution, opposed by the United States, to ease sanctions on Pyongyang as part of an effort to encourage dialogue. Chinese envoy Geng Shuang accused

the United States of “further aggravating tension and confrontation" through its military alliance with South Korea. “If the DPRK constantly feels threatened, and its legitimate

security concerns remain unresolved, the peninsula will not be able to get out of the security dilemma and only be caught in a vicious cycle of tit-for-tat aggressive moves," he said.

_(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed - AFP)_ ABOUT THE AUTHOR Shankhyaneel Sarkar Shankhyaneel Sarkar is a senior subeditor at

News18. He covers international affairs, where he focuses on breaking news to in-depth analyses. He has over five years of experience during which he has covered sev...Read More

Shankhyaneel Sarkar is a senior subeditor at News18. He covers international affairs, where he focuses on breaking news to in-depth analyses. He has over five years of experience during

which he has covered sev... Read More Location : United Nations, United States News world After US Army Bases, Kim Jong Un Clicks Pictures of White House, Pentagon with Spy Satellite